- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; Open market ed edition (1 April 1999)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140272747
- ISBN-13: 978-0140272741
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.4 x 2.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,023,313 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Twined around Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin (which her mathematician father often sang), award-winning novelist Barbara Trapido's fifth book unravels the interconnected histories of Ellen, Jonathan and Stella and their friends, lovers and relations. Part Bildungsroman, part La Ronde, the novel's focal point is the moment when Ellen's younger sister Lydia is run over and killed outside novelist Jonathan Goldman's London flat.
Ellen and Lydia--or, to their headmaster father, "Gigglers One and Two"--were as close as sisters could be. They read romantic novels and giggled, talked about sex in front of their tiny stepmother and giggled, and helped Lydia's godmother make carrot cake for Jonathan, aka "The Novelist" and giggled. Then Lydia is killed. And Ellen stops giggling. She returns to Edinburgh University to discover her flatmates gone, leaving only a copy of Heart of Darkness and a drawing in lieu of money for the gas bill.
Rich and kindly Pen, older than his 23 years, and the madly talented artist Izzy have graduated. But what's happened to Stella, the obsessive and naive red-headed cellist?
Starring an array of attractive eccentrics, riven with elegant coincidence, and culminating in an utterly theatrical denouement, Trapido's fable of love and loss, families and loneliness, sex and religion, is romantic as Schubert, clever as an Oxford mathematician and heartbreaking as anything. --Lisa Gee --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
'Her fans might be forgiven for thinking this writer couldn't get any better. She just has' Guardian 'There aren't many novelists whose stories one doesn't want to end but Barbara Trapido is one of them' Mail on Sunday 'The woman is brilliant. She deserves to be up there, topping the bestseller lists and winning all the prizes. And she actually makes you laugh ... I enjoyed every page of this book' Daily Mail 'Reading Barbara Trapido is sheer pleasure. Afterwards, I went out and bought everything else she has written - and am only disappointed I didn't do it earlier' Independent on Sunday Books of the Year
--This text refers to an alternate
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Having previously read Frankie and Stankie by Barbara Trapido, I was looking forward to reading this book. It did not disappoint - in fact it was even better than Frankie and Stankie - the narrative descriptions are evocative and the characters come to life almost immediately.
The novel made me laugh out loud and even the sad moments are hauntingly funny which make them all the more poignant.
The characters are unique and not like you or I (I hope!) and yet somehow Trapido has the gift of being able to make her readers connect and emphasise with her characters.
My only slight disappointment was the ending for Stella, which I could not really understand but maybe I still have to transcend to a higher plane!
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from start to finish. The only disappointment was at the end, when I knew that I would no longer be following the lives of such wonderful, challenging, thought provoking characters. I found myself swapping "sides" and empathising with one character after another, and was delighted by the finale. The skill of Barbara Trapido is unprecedented. This book is a must-read.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Brilliant, brilliant. It's not often that a work of fiction can keep me pondering for days and days after I've turned the final page. For me, that kind of impact usually comes only from biography or 'true' stories. But this one kept me thinking for a long time. A page-turner of a story that is both entertaining and thought provoking, with lots of symbols and themes to keep the ex-English-lit-A-levellers happy and thinking! Realistic, loveable/hateable characters and a wonderfully woven, complex plot that just keeps twisting and turning. I read it in a day and now want to read more of Ms Trapido. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Crystalline comedy
A glittering comedy with black moments. Nicely complex plot which ties itself into interesting knots. Read more
Published 8 months ago by Barbara A. Baker
The travelling hornplayer
Thoroughly enjoyable, it would have had 5 stars but for the rather improbable ending. It made me laugh out loud!
Published 10 months ago by Cat Lady
Everyone Is So Talented
This novel, told incurvately in turn by three characters, turns on a series of coincidences among a group of similarly-connected people, but the plot's of far less interest than... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Bob Ventos
The Travelling Hornplayer
Since first reading "Brother of the More Famous Jack" many, many years ago I have been hooked by Barbara Trapido. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Evabrick
Fabulous
I tend to stick to authors I know, but I picked this up in a library sale because of its pretty cover ... Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2010 by liveenl
Love and Loss!
The protagonists of this novel are Ellen, Jonathan and Stella whose lives and those of family friends and lovers become intertwined by coincidence upon coincidence. Read more
Published on 1 Mar 2008 by LindyLouMac
Starts off well, but gets steadily more irritating
This is the first novel I have read of Barbara Trapido, and while I found the first few chapters very interesting and amusing -to the point of laughing out loud on the train - I... Read more
Published on 22 May 2005 by alimarcam
Good, in a different kind of way
This book, by Barbara Trapido, is one of a bag full of books I picked up a few months ago from library booksale. Read more
Published on 30 Nov 2004 by Ms. Clair E. Mcmullen
absorbing novel well worth the read
I was recommended to Baraba Trapido and all I can say is that I too would recommend her to you. This book was excellent, I was totally absorbed in the characters and the story... Read more
Published on 10 Jun 2002
Pure rubbish
I personally found this book highly disapointing. Some of the characters struck me as utterly bland, the ending was nothing but a pure farce and the characters were unbelievable. Read more
Published on 27 April 2002
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